


In Search of the Unknown Episode 5

by KennyF7



Series: In search of the unknown episodes [5]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Anthology, Horror, Lovecraftian, Paranormal, Paranormal Investigators, Thriller, supsense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:34:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28714356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KennyF7/pseuds/KennyF7
Series: In search of the unknown episodes [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2100765





	In Search of the Unknown Episode 5

Today was quite different for the group. They are getting ready for their first time traveling somewhere to film.  
Dalen told them that he wanted to visit New Byzantium to investigate the story more and make a video updating on the story. David was readying the Camera, and Trevor offered to be the mic guy, and Dalen was making questions ready for if they meet anyone there.  
Clara was getting comfortable with being the only person to be around for a bit, so she was still looking through different accounts of the paranormal. She has found a few that interest her but decided to wait for when everyone else is done with their trips.  
It is a bit irritating that she must do all the chores while she is done, but it’s not that much since now it’s only her making any mess.  
Once they left, she sighed in relief and got to her studies.  
It felt nice to hang out with the building empty. The absolute quiet was a nice change of pace. She listened to some music and read through the testimonies of people who claimed to see things that lurk in the dark. The building sometimes felt too big for her, the shadows too stark and she felt tiny, but there was a quaintness to everything. She even had a nice view to look at the wildlife, which was nice to look at with a warm cup of coffee.  
She sometimes sat in the back, where she would have some fresh air, and listen to birds chirping. She like David was enthralled with the beam in the clearing. She seemed to see more though than all of them. The shadow of the strange pole looks almost like a person. The shadow always stayed in one place and never seemed to change, never moving with the sun. This detail was hard to recognize, but unforgettable once seen.  
After an hour of staring at it, she decided to go look at it herself. She walked towards it. The fall leaves crunching before her, and the cold air as crisp as the leaves. Once she got close to it, she saw the climbing red lines for what they truly were. They were smaller red symbols packed close together, distance obscured this detail from everyone else. The symbols were different, many of them unique, like snowflakes. It took her a while before she saw the same one.  
She touched it, and her body stopped. A chill whirled from the palm of her hand and up to her head. It felt almost like a shock. She felt paralyzed, every muscle tensed then rest. Images played in her head, ideas and thoughts not her own, confusion and soon panic.  
“May I ask your name?” A voice came behind her.  
The voice was unnatural, almost sounding like sandpaper against a wooden board. Something gave Clara the feeling that it already knew a lot about her.  
“I have… the sense you already know” Clara responds, trying to push words out of her chest.  
The voice gave a haunting laugh "Well no, I prefer to hear it from the person, to be formal, the rest is a free game, well what I can reach for at least"  
Clara felt weird like she and the universe around her was changing. The world around her seemed more abstract. It felt like she was in a painting. The air was thicker, and everything was slower and moved in more jagged ways. Everything around her looked like a Van Gogh painting.  
She then wondered in her head if this will be the place she will die.

As if answering what she thought, the voice said “Don’t be absurd, there’s no fun in that, why spread death and chaos so directly, getting my hands dirty is not my style” Clara could feel the thing smiling “I would like to see if I could make a deal with you”.  
“How can I make a deal if I can’t see you face to face?”.  
"I see no point in showing my form if you're at the end not interested"  
"Well, how do these deals work?"  
"You ask for something, and I'll demand something of equal value, if I take a liking to you, you may earn it for free"  
“I’m guessing you won’t take cash”  
The thing laughed and said yes.  
Clara first demanded to be let go, and the thing let her free.  
She turned around to see a man, his hair scraggly, and his hair twisting into many curls. He was cleaning shaven and seemed to keep clean. His clothes weren’t fancy, a green coat, a red and yellow scarf, a blue sweater and some jeans. Clara couldn’t look into its eyes without getting sick.  
“You seem pretty human”  
“Looks can be deceiving, I prefer to look a bit more palatable for deals, I don't want you to instantly go insane" The thing's voice still not sounding human.  
Clara asked for its name, and it seemed confused. It began to think of some name to go by, it came with one name “Basil”.  
"Ok, here is my first demand," Clara said.  
Basil smiled at the prospect.  
“I want you to give me the story of someone who we may never hear from” Basil frowned at this.  
It yearned for more.  
“Fine, I’ll ask something with equal value, a story can stay with someone until death” Basil paused “I want you to not tell your friends of me, you must take your knowledge of me to your grave”.  
Clara nodded in agreement and shook Basil’s hand. Basil offered for them to sit and Clara agreed.  
Basil’s account on the experiences of Jun Liu  
The reason why I tell you this story is that the women who saw this, no longer lives. She died around the 1980s.  
Jun Liu was born in China; she was about 15 when this started. She grew up in famine, and the great leap forward was about to begin.

Life was harsh and difficult, their life’s uplifted, and traditions destroyed for being deemed feudalism. Life was harsh for those who disobeyed, beatings with sticks were the most common use. The sky was the limit to how cruel a local cadre could bring.  
Starvation barely helped the matter, many going hungry, including Jun Liu. Yet, they could never complain, never resist, or be deemed “subversive”. Jun chaffed at such demands, and she was nearly caned a few times, and fear always put her in line. She was right to fear, a gust of wind brings down anyone in her village at that time. A bamboo cane would most likely kill her, and she saw one who did.  
She preferred to stay secluded from the newly made communes and their waves of misery. When it was night when everyone was eating, she would sit alone near the Yangtze River, it was beautiful. The moonlight shimmered on the river, and the mountains left grand silhouettes, like holes in reality itself. It felt nice to cool down there and wipe the sweat off her brow and breath in the fresh air. She felt at peace there and when she told about it to her mother, her mother would be reminded of a Buddhist temple that she went to that was destroyed.  
The event happened one night she was at the river; the moon was full, and its soft glow revealed the river's beauty. Yet something felt off to Jun Liu, there seemed to be a new silhouette. It was massive, taller than anything she saw before, she thought at first it was the distant mountains. No, it was close and, in the river. She heard of stories of creatures that lurked in rivers, but not of this size and were certainly not told as truth, only legend. It lurched through the water, its full size was unknown, but it looked like it could destroy any sail ship Jun saw move down the river. She never knew that it was only an infant and that the creature's full size even to me is unknown.  
Jun was terrified, fear flowed through her veins.  
It paid no mind to her, yet its mere existence proved how insignificant she was.  
Then a great fog rolled in, and a gunboat would roll in from the darkness. It was large and close to the creature’s size. Voices from people who were not Chinese came from the boat, Jun didn’t know that they were American. She also did not know that this ship was long ago out of commission.  
Its name may be lost to time.  
Time seemed to freeze, and all breaths were held.  
That's when an eruption of sound came, the ship's main gun fired off a hit into the massive creature's body. Whatever shell the monster had was stubborn and refused to heed. No sounds came from the creature. No roar. No battle-cry. Many green pustules grew on the creature. They seemed like eyes. They glowed  
Tentacles pulled up from the water. Despite the distance, they already were close to the boat from underwater. They moved like whips. Starting at the creature, and like the tides, surging towards the gunboat.  
The tentacles cut into the ship’s steel sides like butter. They attack produced long gashes.

The steel behemoth stayed firm and continued attacking. Machine guns and rifle bullets hit the beast's carapace. They streaked through the dark. The light of the attack illumined the river and had little effect.  
The elongated limbs of the great beast wrapped around the ship. It tried to push the boat away, but its motion was not encumbered.  
The boat was so close it nearly collided with the mutinous mass. Then the unthinkable happened.  
The boat opened its mouth. It came apart, the screeching and sharp metal were like jagged teeth. Its colossal jaws opened. To the point of completely engulfing the creature.  
Then in one swift motion, it bit down. Broke through the things shell, and bit by bit consumed it whole. Like a bird of prey eats what it had caught.  
Once the boat was finished gorging on the body, it went to its original form.  
Its wounds were gone, and it went down the river.  
A fog rolled in. All was calm again  
Jun Liu ran back home where she told all who would listen. No one believed her. Word spread but was just a little girl’s overactive imagination.  
Someone did believe her, a man who seemed to hold power and influence. His name was unknown to her. He went by the alias of “The Inspector”. He was young and came far from the capital to hear her story. There was an air of authority he carried, and the cadres listened and followed his every command like dogs. One of his orders was to make sure that no one else was involved.  
The Inspector questioned every part of her story. He seemed to care and seemed to believe her. He fed her, which she would remember as the best food she ever tasted. In a small room, she was questioned, people would come in out of the room taking orders from the inspector.  
These people seemed pale and seemed to have no face. It was hard to tell at a glance, but easy to notice when she paid attention. It was reality itself that kept the people's identities anonymous. Almost like their faces were smeared with paint. Their skin was pristine and seemed to lack any blemishes like plastic.  
The Inspector made a kind goodbye after exhausting all he could get from Jun Liu.  
Everything was quiet again, and the inspector and his faceless men were gone.  
Jun Liu would live a good life.  
End of Story  
Clara seemed confused. She had so many questions. What was the creature? What was the boat? What is the Inspector looking for?  
Basil answered none of this.

“Isn’t there more to this story?”.  
Basil nodded “Well yes, you asked me to tell you a story you would never hear, and those other questions you ask can be answered” then Basil thought again and said “Except for what that creature is, Not even I know it’s identity”  
Clara frowned and was dissatisfied by the answer.  
“Well this is the end of the deal, goodbye” Clara concluded.  
“I hope to meet you again Clara, you have potential that I see worth investing in”.  
“Do you kiss up to everyone?”.  
Basil laughs “Maybe”.  
Then it was gone, like Basil never existed. Clara no longer felt she was moving in oily paint. She sighed and listened to the leaves rustle. Trying to calm down. Would she be able to even tell Dalen of this? Was this her secret?  
She was lucky to have kept her mind and composure. Most do not.


End file.
